Posted on 01/13/2009 6:01:52 PM PST by Dan Nunn
BUFFALO -- It appears the New York State Thruway will again figure prominently in a dispute between the Seneca Indian Nation and the state over cigarette taxes.
On Tuesday, Seneca President Barry Snyder outlined the nations response to a law signed by Gov. David Paterson that would ban manufacturers from selling unstamped cigarettes to wholesalers who supply reservation stores.
Snyder says tribal councilors are now devising a system to collect tolls of $2 per car on the Thruway, where it passes through the tribes Cattaraugus Reservation in western New York. He called the interstate an illegal, unlicensed business.
In 1997, the Senecas burned tires and shut down part of the Thruway following an attempt that year by the state to tax Indian suppliers.
Wrong again. The whole point of the new law is to impose the tax at the distributor level, before it even gets to the reservation. However, even if we assume that the Indians are "collecting" the tax, the Supreme Court has held that the tribes can be required to do that if they wish to sell to non-Indians.
So what should we do about the treaties signed hundreds of years ago by our forefathers?
Sovereign tribes? How is that different than demanding Ontario start collecting New York State sales tax?
And you are correct that it is at the distributor level. What is to stop out of state distributors from doing business with the Seneca nation? This is nearly on the Pennsylvania border.
Contrary to what the Native American race-baiters like to argue, "sovereign" Indian Nations have never been treated exactly like foreign governments. They are subject to federal law and, to the extent federal law decrees it (as in this case) state law.
Good. I’m in favor of anything that keeps the NYS moneygrubbers the hell out of my pocket. NYS literally does tax anything that moves, anything that used to move, and anything that cannot move. Enough.
BTW..NOBODY — not Indians and not non-Indians — should be having to pay these kinds of taxes on cigarettes. It’s insanity itself to charge $10/pack just so the state can collect billions of dollars from people who really just want to be left alone.
It is not now, nor has it ever been about “health.”
Regards,
PS: While I feel for the mom and pop convenience stores that are claiming they’ve lost business, may I suggest that they direct their ire towards the REAL culprits here: their own legislature. Had NYS not raised taxes to this unconscionable level, they would not be in the position of having to compete for business. Believe me, I’m sure smokers would MUCH rather walk around the corner for smokes than drive many miles away. The taxes are the problem here, not the Indians.
ARTICLE 2. The United States acknowledge the lands reserved to the Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga Nations in their respective treaties with the State of New York, and called their reservations, to be their property; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb them, or either of the Six Nations, nor their Indian friends, residing thereon, and united with them in the free use and enjoyment thereof; but the said reservations shall remain theirs, until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States, who have the right to purchase.
Agreed. Mom and pops blaming the Indians for tax-free cigarettes is like blaming the gun in a shooting. We need this bum governor out of the office.
I wish it were only Paterson.
Unfortunately, my own (allegedly) GOP representatives in the NYS legislature back this law, and my (allegedly) GOP county legislator (Suffolk) has voted to join Mikey Bloomberg’s lawsuit against the Poospatuck Indians.
There’s plenty of GOP garbage out there, and they are well represented in NYS.
Regards,
Your citation doesn’t reference the Senecas, only “the Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga Nations.” And at least two of those tribes (Oneida and Cayuga) have been found to have lost their reservations. See the Sherrill decision and the Court of Appeals decision Cayuga Indian Nation v Pataki.
My citation didn’t, but the treaty in its entirety does, and outlines the land by geographic boundary for the tribes. Plus it’s hosted on the Seneca Nation of Indians website.
Simply explaining how the ethnic group identified as Iroquois Indians is organized should give you a complete understanding.
First of all, there are Confederation and Non-Confederation Iroquois. The Non-Confederation people are usually known as Mingo, and their language, which is indistinguishable from Iroquois, is called Mingo. There are several websites where you can learn it. You will frequently hear it spoken on "The Simpsons" (for reasons I do not understand).
Within the Confederation, way before the American Revolution there were 5 nations. At some point in time families within each constituent tribe were selected to travel together to the Carolinas to colonize that area. They were called Tuscarora. Later on when the Tuscarora returned to New York they were given various pieces of land in existing tribal territories.
During the American Revolution two tribes elected to assist the United States in the war against the Brits. I believe there were a couple of neutrals, and the other tribes elected to assist the UK.
At the end of the war all the tribes, winners and losers, were protected by the same Treaty of Paris that recognized American independence.
The Congress wrote a special law recognizing and protecting its allies among the Iroquois.
later on reservations were set up ~ but that's way after the Revolution.
In the meantime New York discovered they could get away with simply stealing Iroquois land ~ first they declared that the Oneida were white people with no right to live on the Oneida lands, then kicked them all out, and took the land which was sold, essentially, to illegal aliens.
Later on New York took on the tribes protected under the Treaty of Paris and began forcing land cessions with little or no payment.
Finally, they faced the Seneca and Mohawk, special protectees of the English Crown, who had reservations on and across the Canadian border, and they weren't able to kick them out or steal their land. That's where the cigarette tax stuff was invented. New York seeks the same thing ~ the destruction of the Iroquois ~ only the trick changes over the centuries. This is still a trick, and the objective is the same.
Chief Justice John Marshall used the phrase "domestic dependent nations." He also wrote that "their relations to the US resemble that of a ward to his guardian."
Interesting legalese....
Regarding "race" the Iriquois have one of the highest percentages of the X-factor, a string of DNA code found only among some Europeans, some North Africans, and a whole lotta' North American Indians.
The "X-factor" has been found in DNA recovered from pre-Columbian material ~ ergo, it didn't arrive on the Mayflower.
What that means is the State of New York and its running dog lackeys are trying to steal land and property from white people (not some other "race").
It’s time to start standing between them.
Get in their face kind of thing that Nobama proposes.
Am I wrong?
Find ways to fight back like the Senecas are doing.
I’m on their side this time.
There is a cop(s) at every construction site here in NH. Looks like the same in MA. I’m betting they are surfing the internet while sitting in the patrol cars late at night at these construction sites no matter if work is occurring or not.
I never saw this in 12 years in TX or 18 years in Louisana and Florida.
But, to talk to an East Coast ‘conservative’, even they justify it as a ‘safety’ precaution.
Treaty after treaty has been violated against America's indignant people in the past
LOL. Attack of the spell-checker? They may well be indignant, but did you mean indigenous in this context?
“So what should we do about the treaties signed hundreds of years ago by our forefathers?”
All those treaties were broken long ago. They’ve been added to and perverted. Do the best thing you can do for anyone in this country, treat them equally.
Because the treaty signed by the US Govt with the Seneca Nation exempts them from the tax. Either we honor the treaties or we don’t.
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